The Labor enquirer., 1887-04-23
'AFREE LABOR PRES 8
Shall There Be One, or Shall It d
Suppressed by the Knights
Of Labor9

Ought the Executive Board to B
Justified in Attempting to
Suppress-Free Speechq
The recent circular letter of G. N.
a Powderly calling upon workingmen
Q boycott" such Labor papers as did nc
. suit his Excellency, and ''instructing" th
b assemblies against the constitution)
. fire the editors of such; papers as CRITICS
! ed any of his actions, more than smacks Q
> autocracy.
, Apropos the Philadelphia Tocsin, th
only real Labor paper published in Phila
delphia, has this to say:
In this country to-day we have at leas
two hundred labor journals, all of whicl
must necessarily depend for the mos
part upon working people for support
Some of them-a minority opinion
upon all matters of interest to labor, ant
boldly and freely give expression to thos'
opinions; Others are guided according Il
the action of a few men who are clothet
with authority, and who lose no opportu
nifty to use the power given them to forct
their constituents to agree with all meth.
ods and measures promulgated by them
no matter how Objectionable. The right
of editors of labor papers to criticize the
action of any individual or set of mer
cannot be denied, and this paper for one
will continue to denounce every action
which is not considered to be for the ben
eft of the cause, or which we deem unnec-
essary to attain the ends looked forward
to by organized labor.
For the past two years especially have
we watched the ''toadying" and ''white-
washing" methods of some of our labor
papers toward the general executive board
of the, Knights of Labor, or rather to the
ring element that has governed the board
for that space of time. No matter what
open violations of the constitution are
sanctioned by the board, these labor
papers either fall in line and defend them
or else remain silent. 1t may be policy
on their part, looking at the matter in a
financial point of view, but it is decidedly
wrong, and gives the enemies of the move
ment chance to condemn, all on account
CT the shortcomings of a few,
1t is not difficult matter to enumerate
the Independent labor papers: the Boston
Leader, Buffalo Truth, Dever ENoUIREB,
Chicago Enquirer, Brooklyn Press, Pater-
son Standard, New York Union Printer,
Washington Craftsman, aud Pittsburg
Trades Journal being about the only
papers that boldly express opinions
against any action of the general assem-
bly, or general executive board when such
course appears necessary.
The attempts that have been made to
muzzle the papers referred to above would
no doubt make very interesting reading,
especially, it, as we believe, they have had
the same experience as the IOcsin. But
the Chicago Enquirer, Boston Leader and
Paterson Labor Standard and other papers
employ editorial talent equal in intelli-
gence, if not far superior, to any man up
on the general executive board, and their
judgment, we believe, had they been con-
suited in great many cases, would have
saved large amount of the disaffection
at present abounding in the organization.
There are very shrewd men at the head OF
the Knights of Labor, no doubt, but the
board must recollect-something which
has certainly slipped their memory-that
all the intelligence in the organization is
not confined to that secret circle. They
are Just as liable to make mistakes as any
other body, and when any other action is
taken which does not suit certain elements
or individuals III the order, sucn actlOn iS
open to comment in the labor press as
well as what are known as 'capitalistic
sheets" 1t would be nice thing to haYe
all the labor papers dance when the pow
ers that be pull the string, giving consid-'
erable satisfaction to those who have axes
to grind; but until all men are treated
alike by the board, and until personal
prejudices cease to govern legislation, the
editors of independent labor papers will
continue to "differ"-not silently as indi-
vidual members of the order, but openly,
in cold type, as friends of the labor move
ment.
The Peoples Building and Loan Associa-
tion.
Great questions with the laboring man